Opening Plenary Of The 2010 Skoll World Forum

Session leaders

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  Vusi Mahlasela Speaker

  Musician,

  His music is generally described as "African folk". His work was an inspiration to many in the anti-apartheid movement. His themes include the struggle for freedom, and forgiveness and reconciliation with enemies. Vusi can also be heard performing on Warren Haynes' Live at Bonnaroo release during the song "Soulshine", and the Dave Matthews Band song, "Everyday", from the album of the same name as well as a live version of the song with him which appears on the album The Best of What's Around Vol. 1. Vusi was also one of the performers at the Live 8 concerts.

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  John Ydstie Speaker

  Economic Correspondent, National Public Radio

  John Ydstie has covered the economy, Wall Street and the federal budget for NPR for two decades and has worked at NPR since 1979. In recent years NPR has broadened his responsibilities, making use of his reporting and interviewing skills to cover major stories like the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. His current focus is reporting on the global financial crisis. Ydstie is also a regular guest host on the NPR news programmes Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation.

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  Dr. Felix Phiri Speaker

  Director of Planning and Information,, Ministry of Education, Zambia

  With 15 years of working for the Zambian Government, Dr. Felix Phiri is currently the Director of Planning and Information at the Ministry of Education. Dr. Phiri holds technical expertise in the analysis and design of monitoring and evaluation systems, design of systems for aid effectiveness, and measuring HIV/AIDS and its socio-economic impacts. Research areas of interest include community financing and the universal coverage and quality of education and health care.

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  Faith Nkala Speaker

  Deputy Executive Director, Campaign for Female Education

  Faith Nkala is Deputy Executive Director and Head of Monitoring and Evaluation for Camfed in Zimbabwe. Faith is proud to have grown from being a beneficiary of Camfed to an outstanding role model. Her leadership in recent participatory and empowering research left rural communities appreciative of their tremendous contribution to girls` education and empowerment. Faith Nkala knows the enormous hurdles that girls from poor rural families face; her life bears testimony to the transformative power of education.

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• 
  Ira Leeds Speaker

  Writer, Blue Oceans For Health

  Ira Leeds is a final-year medical student at Emory University and concurrently pursuing an MBA at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. More of his work appears on his permanent blog Blue Oceans for Health.

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• 
  Lance Croffoot-Suede Speaker

  Partner, Goverance Team, Linklaters LLP US

  Lance Croffoot-Suede, a NY-based partner with more than 20 years’ experience in criminal and regulatory matters, is head of our International Governance and Development practices. Lance represents the private, public and not-for-profit sectors on all manner of governance issues, including addressing challenges relating to bribery, corruption, fraud and economic sanctions regimes. He does this through the design and implementation of governance models, education and training, and investigations when necessary. Recent examples include: developing a governance model for a multinational mining company to reduce the risk of bribery and corruption; representing a Middle Eastern energy company to develop a governance model to reduce the risk of international sanctions violations; representing a Fortune 100 Company in its internal investigation into cross-border Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues and concurrent investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; designing a unified governance model and compliance system for an oil and gas company in Nigeria; representing an Asian NGO in connection with an investigation by USAID and related governance issues, conducting an in-depth review, analysis, and report on the governance model of a UK-based NGO operating in sub-Saharan Africa; and advising a foundation on the development of a sustainability bond to finance affordable housing in India. Lance also regularly handles white collar criminal, government regulatory and complex civil litigation matters on behalf of clients in many sectors, and their corporate executives. He has extensive experience in criminal law, securities matters, and class action defense. Lance is recognized as a Leading Lawyer in Corporate Governance in the 2016 edition of Legal 500 U.S.

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• 
  Lakhdar Brahimi Speaker

  Veteran United Nations Envoy and Advisor, The Elders

  In his distinguished career, Lakhdar Brahimi has served as Algeria’s Foreign Minister and as Ambassador to Egypt and the UK. He mediated the end of Lebanon’s civil war. At the United Nations, he led the Observer Mission to South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected and served in Haiti and Afghanistan. He led the creation of the Brahimi Report, with ambitious recommendations to improve UN peacekeeping. He is a member of The Elders, a group of senior statesmen created by Mandela.

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• 
  Colin Mayer Speaker

  Peter Moores Dean, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School

  Colin Mayer is Peter Moores Dean of the Saïd Business School, Professor of Management Studies and Professorial Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. Mayer was the first professor at the Saïd Business School, the Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies. He has served on the editorial boards of several leading academic journals and was instrumental in creating the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)). He has held visiting fellowships at Stanford, MIT and Brussels University (ULB), where he was the first Leo Goldschmidt Visiting Professor of Corporate Governance. He is a Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute and an Honorary Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. Mayer is Chairman of Oxera Holdings Ltd, one of the largest independent economics consultancies in the UK.

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• 
  Paul Farmer Speaker

  Co-founder and Chief Strategist, Partners In Health

  Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to improving health care for the world's poorest people. He is Co-founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health (PIH), an international non-profit organization that since 1987 has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues in the U.S. and abroad have pioneered novel community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. Dr. Farmer holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he is the Kolokotrones University Professor and the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; he is also Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Additionally, Dr. Farmer serves as the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti. Dr. Farmer has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award from the American Medical Association, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and, with his PIH colleagues, the Hilton Humanitarian Prize. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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• 
  Ann Cotton Speaker

  Founder and President, Campaign for Female Education

  Ann Cotton OBE is Founder and President of Camfed, an international non-profit organisation tackling poverty and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change. Camfed’s goal is to replace the existing cycle of poverty and inequality with a new cycle of empowerment and opportunity. The organisation’s unique approach is to not only support girls and young women through school, but also on to new lives as entrepreneurs and community leaders. To complete the “virtuous cycle”, graduating students become alumnae and many train and mentor new generations of students. More than 3.5 million children have already benefited from Camfed’s programmes in a network of 5,270 partner schools across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi. In 2014, Camfed was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for best practice in taking development innovation to scale. Ann is an Honorary Fellow at Homerton College, and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cambridge University Judge Business School. She is a noted speaker on international platforms, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Skoll World Forum. In 2014, she addressed the U.S.-Africa Summit hosted by the White House, George W. Bush Institute and U.S. State Department. Ann has won numerous awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Cambridge University; an OBE in honour of her advocacy of girls’ education in Africa; the Skoll and Schwab Awards for Social Entrepreneurship; Woman of the Year in the UK; and UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2014, Ann received the 2014 WISE Prize as Education Laureate.

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• 
  Jeff Skoll Speaker

  Founder & Chairman, Jeff Skoll Group

  Jeff Skoll is an entrepreneur devoted to creating a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Over the last 17 years, he has crafted an innovative portfolio of philanthropic and commercial enterprises, each a distinctive catalyst for changing the trajectory of issues that most affect the survival and thriving of humanity. This portfolio includes the Skoll Foundation, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Participant Media, and Capricorn Investment Group—all coordinated under the Jeff Skoll Group umbrella. The Skoll entrepreneurial approach is unique: driving large-scale, permanent social impact by investing in a range of efforts that integrate powerful stories, data, capital markets, technology, partnerships, and organized learning networks. Operating independently from one another yet deeply connected through a shared vision, Skoll organizations galvanize public will, influence policy, and mobilize resources to accelerate the pace and depth of change. Jeff was the first full-time employee and President of eBay, where he experienced firsthand the power of combining entrepreneurship, technology, and trust in people. His work today embodies those fundamental lessons. All of Jeff’s organizations rely on the premise that people are fundamentally good, and that given the opportunity to do the right thing, they will.

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• 
  Pamela Hartigan Speaker

  Director (2009-2016), Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

  Dr. Pamela Hartigan was Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Said Business School at the University of Oxford from 2009 until her passing in 2016. She was also founding partner of Volans Ventures, an organization focused on building innovative scalable solutions to challenges affecting our future. Prior to starting Volans, Dr. Hartigan spent eight years as the Founding Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a sister organization of the World Economic Forum, where she was also a member of the Managing Board. Of Ecuadorian origin, Dr. Hartigan first came to the United States at 17 years of age to study at Georgetown University; she went on to complete a PhD in human developmental psychology at the Catholic University of America. Throughout her career, she held varied leadership positions in multilateral organizations and educational institutions, as well as in entrepreneurial ventures. She was responsible for conceptualizing and creating new organizations, departments, and programs across a variety of institutions and platforms. Dr. Hartigan was a frequent lecturer on entrepreneurship and innovation at graduate business schools in the USA, Europe, and Asia, and an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia Business School and at the University of Technology Sydney. She co-authored a book with John Elkington, founder of SustainAbility (UK), entitled The Power of Unreasonable People: How Entrepreneurs Create Markets to Change the World, which was published by Harvard Business Press in 2008. She was a trustee of social investment organizations, publicly listed companies, and social impact focused organizations around the world. Dr. Pamela Hartigan died on August 12, 2016, at her home in France.

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